Playing at the FBS level now a question of when for GSU

A year ago at the Greater Savannah Eagle Club, Georgia Southern announced plans for a $10 million enhancement to Paulson Stadium and gave subtle hints about a possible move to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Remember the line: If you’re going to run with the big dogs, you have to get off the porch, by school president Dr. Brooks Keel.

“Let’s put it this way,” Keel said last month. “Moving up requires stadium enhancement. We can’t even make a decision of whether we want to move up until we have the resources and facilities to handle everything else that goes with it.”

Two years earlier, the Eagles summoned Rosser International to look into a move to the FBS. It appeared GSU needed a lot more money than its boosters could shell out.

But when Keel took over as president about 2 ½ years ago, he entered with the understanding of what top-level football does.for a school while at Florida State and LSU.

A month ago, after acknowledging the stadium enhancement is well off the ground, Keel told me he’s always looking 5-10 years down the road.

“If you’re not thinking (about the future) you’re never going to get ahead,” Keel said.

Does that mean a move to the FBS?

Last Sunday, the Statesboro Herald got past the hints and put Keel’s aspirations in black and white. Yes, Georgia Southern is moving up to play in the FBS.

But when?

The plan will take money, but GSU’s fan base has already donated $5.1 million toward the stadium project and has another $6 million in pledges.

Twenty years ago, Southern was left behind when the Central Floridas, Middle Tennessee States and Northeast Louisianas (now Louisiana-Monroe) – teams the Eagles were beating – made the move up.

Another wave of schools – Appalachian State, even Georgia State – has announced intentions to move up to FBS.

Few schools have the football tradition of Georgia Southern. The fan base has started to support the $37 million Soar to Victory campaign.

When will GSU begin play in the FBS? There haven’t been any hints for that answer.

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I really just don't get GSU's desire to move up to FBS. The Eagles can remain FCS and be a relevent program playing for championships, or move to FBS and become irrelevent. Simply put, they aren't going to compete with the likes of Bama, LSU, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Michigan (and the list goes on and on) for championships. IMO App State is making the same mistake.

By paparcc | 04/26/12 - 04:16 pm
I really just don't get GSU's desire to move up to FBS. The Eagles can remain FCS and be a relevent program playing for championships, or move to FBS and become irrelevent. Simply put, they aren't going to compete with the likes of Bama, LSU, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Michigan (and the list goes on and on) for championships. IMO App State is making the same mistake.

FBS Football, for all but about 30 schools, is not about competing for National Championships. The Eagles are relevant in FCS, but FCS is irrelevant in the larger conversation of College Football.

Moving to FBS is about stepping out of our "Regional" classification onto the national stage. Southern has no illusions about who we are or will be. We'll not be in a major conference for many years, if ever. But we can certainly get to the level of East Carolina or Southern Miss which is way ahead of where we are now.

The Coastal Empire should take pride in it's role in helping Georgia Southern grow from a Teacher's College in the 1950's to a National Doctoral/Research University in 2012.

Georgia Southern doesn't have 93,000 fans in the stadium, but the 20,000 at Paulson Stadium are every bit as passionate as those in Athens, Tuscaloosa, and Gainesville.

I'm sure there were people in Orlando telling the Central Florida Knights (who Georgia Southern beat on a regular basis) that they would never compete. They're still not the Gators or the Hurricanes, but I seem to recall a Bowl Victory in 2010 over some "Big Time" SEC school;)

I would like to see us move up to Conference USA. While I have no illusions about us becoming the next Boise State, we could lure large schools into Statesboro by adding 20,000 temporary side line seats, which would give us around 35,000 seats and preserve the grassy knolls. This is not meant to be a "stab" at App State, but they have done about all they can do with their stadium parking. We have plenty of flat land and lots of buses, so in that respect, we are standing in good steed.

Georgia Southern is NOT going to make any move to the FBS within the next ten years. The administration at GaSo may be making some noise in order to raise some fund$ and get the heat off their back but nothing is really going to happen. Georgia Southern isn't within 160 miles of a relevant media market and GaSo is only the 5th largest college in Georgia. (behind Georgia; Georgia State; GaTech; and Kennesaw State in that order) GaSo was a traditional A&M school and a teachers college for most of its existence so there are no great alumni benefactors to provide the needed $$$ support. Any discussion of GaSo moving to FBS is aimless talk and will only frustrate the Georgia Southern faithful.